The Science Officer (11 page)
Read The Science Officer Online
Authors: Blaze Ward
Tags: #space opera, #The Librarian, #action adventure, #space pirates
Javier stared at her for a moment, sighed. There was nothing for it. “You.”
She nodded, minutely. For someone from Neu Berne, that was roughly the equivalent of Javier jumping up and down on the bed and howling various deprecations at the gods.
They both let the moment pass.
“What made you change your mind, Javier?” Her voice and her eyes were much softer now. Not nearly as hostile and agitated as he was used to from her. Neu Berne society. This had gotten to be far more personal than he had planned.
“You said please,” he said, finally.
At her look of total confusion, he waved a hand. “I don’t mean then,” Javier said. “Earlier. Something minor and insignificant, I don’t even remember what without looking through the tapes. It doesn’t matter. You had gone beyond merely civil and were making an attempt to be nice. That mattered.”
The look in her eyes was distant, glacial. Neu Berne society.
He watched her study him, really study him. The kind of closeness she hadn’t bothered with at any point in the previous several weeks. It made him very uncomfortable, but he’d decided to come here, to do this.
“You could,” she whispered, “have done something thirty seconds earlier.”
Javier nodded. “Yes. I could have. And I could have also waited thirty seconds and shot him in the back with your gun. I’d like to think I made the right choice.”
Javier keyed the door open and slid out as soon as it was wide enough. From outside, he gave her a grim grin that softened into a smile as the door closed.
He would probably never again see her with her jaw slack in surprise. It felt good.
Find the other Suvi story,
The Librarian,
at
Knotted Road Press
or your favorite retailer.
About the Author
Blaze has lived in many different places, including Kansas, The Ozarks, Breckenridge, and SoCal. He’s also done a number of things, some of which are even past the statute of limitations now. The ones he’ll tell you about (without the need for full anonymity) include being a bouncer at a cowboy bar outside a Marine base, a volunteer storm–spotter with the county fire department, and herding nerds at a small software company. He currently lives Seattle–ish and tells stories in most every form of English you can, and a few other languages.
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